Sailing AU
by Amtrack
Summary: When Weiss's Yacht, Myrtenaster, runs afoul of a storm after her fathers death, she ends up in a small fishing village temporarily living with an excitable mechanic and her sister in their supply shop. Angst and White Rose ensue. Full credit for the idea goes to Tumblr user stoner-blake.
1. Chapter 1

**A little introduction to the Sailing AU I'm beginning to write.**

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Weiss squeezed her eyes shut as her father's shouting echoed around her, occasionally interrupted by bouts of coughing. She tried desperately to hold back the tears that formed every time. She would hold them back, she always did, but it got harder each time. _Ninety Four percent. _It wasn't enough for her father. Nothing was ever enough for him. I she had scored perfectly, he would be disappointed she hadn't done it sooner. She knew, because it had happened before. It didn't matter that her tutors were among the best in the world. It didn't matter that their assessments were some of the hardest in the world. It didn't matter that she knew more about running a business than ninety nine percent of the world. She wasn't perfect. She would _never_ be perfect. Her father demanded perfect.

As always, when his tirade was finished, Weiss walked from the room. As always, the tears broke through the second she turned away. As always, she broke into a run the instant he could no longer see her. As always, she ran to her beloved Yacht, _Myrtenaster._ She loved the ocean. She loved how it was endless. She loved the calm feeling of the water as she trailed her hand through it. She loved the rocking of _Myrtenaster_ beneath her feet and the sea breeze as it blew her hair from her face. She loved letting her hair down at sea, and she hated how she always had to return to her father. Often, but not always, she would spend the rest of the day on that Yacht. She always needed to, but sometimes it was not possible. On those days, she had commitments that her father would never allow her to miss. She had missed them once, and brought on another bout of screaming, sending Weiss back to sea for the rest of the night as well as half the following day. This was a day she had to return. Gasping, Weiss ended the call with her mother. Terrified, Weiss turned the Yacht around. Confused, she tried to process the fact her father was on his deathbed.

"I'm working!" He barked as Weiss entered the room. Little more than skin stretched over a skeleton, he stared at his laptop screen as he lay in his bed, fingers moving over the keyboard.  
"I… I came to see you. Y-you should be resting…"  
"Bah! I can't rest I'm the only one capable of doing this! God knows _you're_ no use."  
"I…. I can do this you know. I…. I'm…"  
"A useless little girl who's met my expectations since she was six! You're not _touching_ this company while I'm alive!" Weiss recoiled as he snarled his last sentence. Without another word, she turned and fled from the room, from the house, from her father, from her life.

It was tears that stained her face when she ran aboard _Myrtenaster_. It was with shaking hands she freed the yacht from her family's private dock. It was despair that came with the bitter realisation that she would never be good enough for her father. It was despair that filled her eighteen year old heart as she ran away.  
Weiss always kept supplies of food on _Myrtenaster_. She had started the practice after the third time she'd gone a whole day on the Yacht without eating, so she found herself well supplied for at least two weeks by her estimation. She liked to eat when she was upset. It helped keep her mind from wandering nearly as much as sailing.  
That day was different. Weiss sat on the side of her Yacht, legs dangling over the side. She didn't feel like eating. The ocean wasn't calming her. She hardly noticed the motion of the boat beneath her. Numbly, she stood up. Numbly, she dropped _Myrtenaster_'s anchor. Without thinking, she stripped down to her underwear and fell into the water.  
The shock of cold water did little. Weiss floated, remaining near her Yacht, but did little else.

It was dark when Weiss climbed back into her boat. She hardly felt the cold. Lethargically, she dried herself off, flopped into her bed, and fell asleep.

It was still dark when Weiss was thrown from her bed. A sharp crack sounded from outside the boat as she pulled herself to her feet. A storm had snuck up on her. _Myrtenaster_ was in danger. Weiss's mind went blank, save for one thought. Myrtenaster_ was in danger._ Throwing on a long coat to protect her skin from the stinging rain, Weiss threw open the door to her cabin and stumbled into the storm. She was horrified at what she saw. _Myrtenaster_'s anchor was still deployed and it was tearing the upper deck apart. The rope was straining as the yacht was tossed and turned, tearing through the wood that made up her precious _Myrtenaster_. Lurching back into her cabin, she pulled a serrated machete from beneath her bed, kept especially for this purpose. Heading back out into the storm, Weiss made her way towards the rope, with every intention to cut through it. The anchor would tear her ship apart, and if the waves got any higher they were going to swamp her. She had barely started sawing through the rope when it snapped, the sudden lurching of the yacht sending her sprawling, losing her grip on the machete. Cursing, Weiss hauled herself to her feet, trying to make her way to the wheel.  
She never made it. As _Myrtenaster_ capsized Weiss was sent tumbling into the black water.

Ruby was small for sixteen years old. She didn't mind though, despite her sisters incessant teasing. She was a skilled mechanic, and adored working on boats, despite her deathly fear of water. Still, she liked the beach. The sand was lovely under her bare feet and shells were really pretty. She didn't know anything about the shells she picked up and collected; only that she loved the colours. She always walked the beach in the mornings, collecting the few seashells that were far enough away from the water. That day was different though. That day Ruby found more than seashells. That day Ruby found a shipwrecked yacht and a motionless girl.

Coughing up seawater, Weiss rolled onto her front before throwing up more seawater than she wanted to think about. She wasn't dead.  
"Easy there! Easy there!" A pair of hands gripped Weiss. "You almost drowned, but you'll be okay now. You're breathing again. Please don't move!" The voice grew frantic when she tried to stand up. Gently, she was pushed back down and rolled onto her side. A round face filled her vision, filled with worry. "You're alright now? Oh wow. I did it. I saved you. You weren't breathing so I did CPR. My sister taught me. Mouth to mouth that sort of thing. You'll be okay now. I promise. Hey, hey! Stay with me!"

That was that last thing Weiss heard before she passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do apologize for taking a while to update my fics, but I'm a slowish writer dealing with Uni and multiple fics in the works.**

**Aside from that please enjoy!**

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"Ruby! We have no idea who this girl even is!"  
"We know she almost drowned! Isn't that enough? She needs our help!"  
"Fine! If you want a stranger living under our roof, then fine! But she'd better be able to either help out or pay rent if she wants to stay here when she wakes up!"  
"Y-Yang! She's gonna need to stay here where else would she go!?"  
"Maybe home to wherever she lives?"  
"On what? That wreck of a yacht! You said yourself it's going to take weeks to fix, if we can do it at all! The hull's been completely torn away in places, everything is waterlogged, and oh yeah! EVERYTHING THAT USES ELECTRICITY NEEDS TO BE REPLACED!"  
"We're barely scraping by as it is! We _can't afford_ another mouth to feed! With all the pollution-"  
"You think I don't know that? Less fish means there's less money to pay us with! It's not that complicated! But what else are we supposed to do? Kick her out?"  
"I… I don't know Ruby." The golden haired girl slumped into the kitchen seat, defeated. "You know it's not that I don't want to help her, but I don't think we can afford to. Look, we'll take care of her. We'll just have to make a few cutbacks. Okay?"  
"Thanks Yang."As Ruby moved off to check on the mysterious girl, Yang sank her head into her hands. They were barely scraping by as is was. They lived upstairs in their shop, and in the past year had barely been able to afford to pay their suppliers. Yang was just thankful they owned their small building. The lack of rent was a life saver ever since the blasted Schnee company had began dumping its waste not far offshore. The town had protested, but been ignored. She was shocked out of her reverie by Ruby calling."YANG! SHE'S AWAKE! COULD YOU MAKE SOME HOT CHOCOLATES?"

Sighing, Yang looked about the four rooms she shared with her sister. There was only one bedroom, holding a one double bed, the bathroom, the living room where she currently was, sitting on their couch facing their small T.V., also the middle room to which everything was connected, and then there was the kitchen, consisting of a small oven, a single electric stove top equipped with four hot plates, a sink, and some cupboards Yang had built herself. It wasn't much, but it had been their home for as long as Yang could remember. Slowly, she picked herself up off the couch and moved towards the kitchen.

The strange girl sat silently by the bed as Weiss looked around, still grimacing from that shout for hot chocolates. The girl hadn't said a word since, the Weiss's request for quiet cutting off the chatter that had almost followed. Slowly, Weiss started to sit up when she felt a sharp, strong pain through her ribs and left arm, and a lance of fire through her head, followed by a bout of dizziness. Hissing, she fell back onto the bed, sending another flash of pain through her ribs. Weiss gasped.  
"Please don't try to move..." the girl said quietly. "Yang thinks your arm's broken, and your head was bleeding when I found you. We'll have Doctor Ozpin around later today, he'll know what's wrong with you."Weiss groaned.  
"Who are you?"  
"Ruby. Ruby Rose."  
"Weiss…" she paused. She had heard the fight in the other room, if they knew her company was responsible... "Weiss Snow."  
"That's a nice name. I've always liked the snow. It's my favorite kind of water. But it's so cold as well, and then the cold gets in engines and boats and then the boats stop working and I get to fix them..." Ruby trailed off, her eyes unfocused, and that's when Yang crashed into the room.

"CHOCLATE'S HERE!"she sang, setting down three cups and snapping Ruby back to reality. Weiss watched the brunette reach eagerly for a cup and bring it to her mouth without hesitation, chuckling at her reaction as she spat the liquid back into her cup, fanning her scalded tongue.  
"AHH! HOT! HOT!" Ruby gasped for breath as she drew out the last word, glaring accusingly at a hysterical Yang.  
"Don't... Haha!... look at me sis... hahaha! I didn't say it was cool enough to drink!"  
"You could have waned me it was so hot!"  
"Or you could take a sip, to test the heat." interjected Weiss, smiling slightly as she blew on her drink, raising her eyebrow as Yang pulled out a small radio.  
"What's that for?"  
"I usually watch the news round about now with Ruby, see what's happening."  
"Yeah right, I'm the only one who actually takes note half the time. Blake comes on and you zone right out!"  
"Blake?"  
"A friend of ours." Yang answered, shooting a look at Ruby. "A reporter for the local news. But she's out of town, reporting on some protests, probably taking part as well."  
"Protests?"  
"Against the Schnee company, trying to get them to dump their waste somewhere else, and to take better care of their workers. Particularly their Faunus workers."  
"But, why the Faunus? They're subhuman." As her saviors faces darkened, Weiss realized she had made a mistake.  
"And what," Yang almost growled, "makes you say that?"  
"Well... that's what my Father always taught me. I've never actually seen one so..."  
"Your father is a discriminatory dick." The blonde snarled.  
"I'll... remember that. I... I think I'll wait until I meet some... before... before making any... assumptions." Ruby seemed satisfied with that, although Yang was less so.  
"See that you do." Yang said as she left with her hot chocolate.  
"Faunus are every bit as human as you or me." Ruby said softly. "A couple of really good friends are Faunus. Blake's a Faunus too. Yang likes her. A lot. So please try to remember that."  
"My father is... less than fair in a lot of ways." Weiss looked down at her drink, taking a sip. "It's cool enough to drink now. Would... would you mind passing me the radio?" Taking the small device from Ruby, Weiss set the channel and turned it on.

_...Schnee, founder and head of the infamous Schnee mining company, died yesterday, of natural causes. While the company is to be passed to his daughter-_

Weiss was paler than a ghost as she shut off the radio, breathing deeply.  
"Ruby, could you give me a minute?" Weiss quavered.  
"Are you alright, you've gone really pale. Is it something to do with-"  
"Please just go..."


End file.
